Community immerses visitors at Singapore's national museum

A host of Community loudspeakers are currently being used for an immersive digital art installation at the National Museum of Singapore, titled “Story of the Forest”.

The National Museum of Singapore is the nation’s oldest museum, and the new installation is inspired by its prized collection, the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings.

The collection is brought to life through a ‘spectacular’ interactive digital presentation in which visitors are transported to the natural ecology of 19th century Malaya, viewed through the eyes of artists of that time and re-imagined today through digital art and technology.

In 2014 the museum closed off the Glass Rotunda, to explore new and innovative ways of showcasing the country’s social history and cultural history with industry partners. This resulted in the museum’s collaboration with the Japanese digital art collective teamLab, while Singapore-based Broadcast Professional Pte was chosen for the system integration, content delivery and project management.

The Glass Rotunda’s 15 meter high drum ceiling and 170 meter passageway have been converted into an immersive large-scale digital art installation, providing a unique 360-degree audio and video experience for visitors to be absorbed. The top of the structure projects the infinitely expanding universe, where animated flowers of the region bloom and change over time as guests walk through it. Sensors that trigger the images to change have been placed strategically within the passageway.

The spiral passageway also features Community DS5 loudspeakers, which create the appropriate audio soundscape to complement the images, while also creating additional interactivity. Broadcast Professional has integrated a feature whereby a high frequency signal can be captured by a visitor’s smartphone microphone, enabling them to pinpoint their location within the various zones of the 170m wide projection.

A total of 42 projectors have been installed along the spiral passageway with Community DS5 loudspeakers playing a critical role in the experience,

said John Paul Tan, Broadcast Professional’s sales manager.

“The Community D SERIES surface mount loudspeakers are low profile, aesthetically modern and discreet, with dynamic sound quality and excellent intelligibility. With space being a premium, these loudspeakers were the ideal solution for this installation as they fit seamlessly into the environment and provide outstanding sound quality.”